Minutes Before Match with Seidouzan
Mika had been stunned to read the results of her investigation that she had gotten from Edmund. While she was sure her mother would be impressed by his younger brother’s cunning to be able to pressure his brother to pay for his surgeries, Mika felt a bit sick as she was reading the reports. With an unreadable expression on her face she turned to check on Galahad who was sitting on the bench with shoulders hunched over.
Looking at his palpable gloominess and seeing all vestiges of his characteristic warm smile completely wiped from his face Mika felt a pang of guilt as she looked at the boy. She had simply intended to help him if he was dealing with something by himself but even she had never expected for things to become like they were.
Uncharacteristically fretting, Mika gave a deep sigh, she had never dealt with something like this before and her tutors had never prepared her for a situation like this. Unsure of what to do, she walked over to the despondent boy who didn’t even notice her.
She took a small breath in before awkwardly patting his head a few times.
Surprised, she saw his emerald-green eyes widen in shock as he attempted to put a smile on his face before giving her a look of confusion.
Mika coughed at his confusion and muttered to herself
“Is this not it?”
The only memory she had that seemed pertinent to this situation was her nanny patting her head after she had been left at home by her parents during the first Christmas she could remember when she was 3 but judging by his reaction she didn’t think this was right.
She coughed again and looked at him closely.
Not even realizing that she had a rather mournful expression on her face she hesitantly asked him,
“How…long are you going to live for someone else?”
A touch of sorrow shadowed Mika’s face as she bent over to talk to Galahad, however the boy couldn’t look her in the eye and didn’t say anything.
Mika went through her memories trying to remember anything that comforted her before grabbing his cheeks and forcing him to look her in the eyes.
Stunned by her forcefulness, Galahad’s eyes began to shake as he sputtered out
“M-Mika, What are you–?”
“I’ll protect you”
Mika let go of his cheeks before spinning around and getting ready for the match.
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Present, Raimon Stadium
“Galahad what are you doing??” cried Taro Omori, one of the 3rd year Raimon defenders.
Shaking his head he looked up only to see a ball heading straight towards him he flinched and prepared for the impact when…
[THAT ONE IS GOING TO STING FOLKS! Mika Kuroha rushes to take the ball for fellow forward Galahad Yozora who is standing around dazed during this fierce match. Just what is going on inside his head?]
Mika turned to check that Galahad was okay before quickly going back up the field to try to break through Seidouzan’s defense once more.
Seeing this Galahad clenched his fist as he recalled the words Edgar had spoken to him in the restaurant.
“Even if my body has to shatter I’d rather that, than let down the people who are relying on me”
“I didn’t eye you as someone so pathetic”
Watching Mika get pushed back by herself trying to make her way through Seidouzan’s defensive line he laughed at himself.
“Ha, I really am pathetic…”
[Seidouzan’s ace Kurosaki Eiji has possession of the ball again as he approaches the goal. It’s as if Raimon has no defense at all as he casually gets in position for another hissatsu shot. Will Kurosaki finally be able to widen the one-point lead over Raimon?]
Smirking, Kurosaki leaped up in the air
“Ballista Shot”
Gritting his teeth, Galahad’s eyes sharpened. Unlike his usual friendly demeanor, with eyes narrowed he looked quite intimidating and ran in front of the incoming shoot.
[Raimon’s Forward Galahad Yozora, like Mika, moves to block the shoot, will he be able to defend Raimon’s goal or will Seidouzan get their second point?]
Letting out a loud roar, Galahad muttered to himself
“It might be too late…”
“I’ve made so many mistakes…”
“But even after all that…”
Mika’s voice rings loudly like a bell in his head
“I’ll protect you”
Laughing to himself, he mutters
“She still wants to protect me”
“So no matter what…even if I can’t stand next to her in the light”
“I’m going to STOP THIS SHOOT”
As he says this, shadows begin to emerge from the ground and envelop him in a pitch-black armor.
Watching the approaching ball wrapped it in its bright green aura with a giant javelin behind it, in his dark armor Galahad takes a knee before leaping quickly into the air and giving the ball 2 diagonal kicks that turn the ball into a black circle, devoid of all light.
“TOTAL ECLIPSE”
“Hmph.”
The shadows return to the ground as Galahad steps on the ball with his right foot giving a small smirk.
Stunned that his shot was stopped by someone other than Mika, Kurosaki’s eyes widen before and quickly orders his teammates
“FALL BACK, NOW!”
“MIKA!”
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Galahad shouts out the girl’s name before kicking a long pass, trusting that she’ll receive it successfully to which he sees the girl’s amethyst eyes light up before giving him a nod of confirmation.
Jumping up to receive the ball, Mika can feel the adrenaline rush in and she runs up
before Seidouzan’s defensive line can catch up and as she approaches the goal she closes her eyes.
Stopping, a purple mist begins to cover the stadium.
“IT’S HAPPENING. IT’S HAPPENING” yells out Yuka from the sidelines in excitement. Hopping up and down he looks like a rabbit while embarrassed, Ikue asks him what he's talking about but in excitement the boy doesn’t hear her.
Half-opening her eyes slowly, Mika’s eyes have a touch of sorrow to them as she looks at the goalkeeper with pity as if apologetic for what she’s about to do. Then, raising her arms she holds her hands together in a praying gesture as the ball becomes surrounded by multiple, neon-purple circles.
Fwoosh
An ominous hand bursts out from the grand within the purple circles grabbing the ball before rising up high in the sky. With a quick motion the giant hand releases a menacing pitch-black cube that begins to spin fiercely as the dark-purple mist begins to wrap itself around the spinning cube.
Jumping upwards behind the inauspicious cube, Mika fiercely begins to spin before giving a strong horizontal kick to the cube.
From the cube, hideous wraiths are unleashed that envelop a golden light that barrels toward Seidouzan’s goalkeeper.
Mika softly whispers before landing softly on the ground.
“Pandora’s Box!”
[GOAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLL!!]
[In a surprise twist, Raimon evens the score with Mika Kuroha’s famous hissatsu shoot, “Pandora’s Box” that allowed Raimon to reach the quarter finals of Holy Road last year. What a terrifying shoot!!]
[Of course we can’t forget forward Galahad Yozora showing off a new hissatsu technique “Total Eclipse” which not only saved Raimon’s goal but also allowed a smooth pass off to Kuroha. This is now anyone’s game!]
Seeing Mika score, Akuma gritted his teeth together and turned towards Galahad.
“What the hell is that idiot doing?”
Akuma ran over and grabbed his arm and shouted
“Why are you helping her? If she keeps scoring and stays a starter you’ll lose your scholarship! Have you lost your mind?”
Galahad didn’t even bother to look behind before shaking off his senpai’s hand from his arm.
Jogging up to Mika, who had just scored, he gave her a soft smile.
“Nice shoot as always… I missed it”
Mika just nodded her head before looking at him with a serious expression on her face
“I’ll be relying on you to protect the goal then”
“You can count on me, even if my entire body breaks, they won’t get past me” pledged Galahad
“......How many times do I have to tell you to take care of your body Mr.Yozora?”
Galahad let out a pleasant laugh before jogging back to the defensive line.
“I was serious Mr.Yozora!!” yelled out Mika to which Galahad just gave a wave without looking backwards.
Watching him ignore her warning she had a displeased expression on her face but judging by his demeanor, he looked much better to Mika so she let out a small breath of relief before heading to the front to get ready for the kickoff.
A worried expression appeared on Mika’s face however, as she thought about Raimon’s situation. Even with Galahad on defense now, that was only one person and also meant Seidouzan could apply more pressure to her and Akuma. Seidouzan wouldn’t be taken by surprise again so it would be hard to connect Raimon’s defense and offense smoothly…
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[Oh, what is this? Raimon’s midfielder Genkei Matsura is being switched out for Serika Afuro. According to our data, this will be her…first official match?! Coach Aphrodi appears to be taking a risk here, we’ll see if it pays off with only 10 minutes remaining in the match!]
2 Minutes Ago At the Bench
“Pandora’s Box!!”
Serika couldn’t believe her eyes. She had never seen Mika look so…alive before. Even with sweat glistening on her forehead, with the wind blowing behind her and eyes shining it looked like there was light radiating from her body.
Stunned, Serika fell silent and tensed her body.
There was absolutely no way she was letting Mika leave her behind…
Not again! No way!
With an uncharacteristically solemn face she began to do some quick warm-up stretches before jogging over to Aphrodi.
When she finally got to Aphrodi she did a full 90 degree bow before shouting
“Please put me in the match coach!”
Looking at his niece’s trembling body and earnest attitude he smiled. In the last two weeks he had been amazed at her progress. She was indeed very talented and had good instincts but he was worried because he wasn’t sure if she was actually taking it seriously or not…
One Week Ago at the Afuro Estate
“Ha! Did you see that Uncle Terumi! I did it! I told you it would be easy for a genius like me!”
Putting her hands on her hips Serika let out a loud laugh,
“HOHOHOHOHOHOHO”
“Serika, I thought I told you while we’re practicing to call me Coach…”
“Oh right, sorry about that Uncle”
“......”
Aphrodi just let out a sigh of exasperation but she was right to be proud. He couldn’t believe she had learned 2 hissatsu techniques in one week, especially that hissatsu. While they could still be improved, it wouldn’t be unreasonable to call her a genius. However, that said, he was still a little worried about her mentality rather than her soccer skills…
Lost in thought he was surprised to see his niece blink her sharp cat-like pink eyes as she pushed his face towards him.
“Are you listening to me Uncle?”
“Sorry, what were you saying?”
Growing silent she stepped back and turned away to hide a blush that had crept up across her entire face. Her cheeks flushed, her face looked like a strawberry as she muttered
“......Do you think she’ll be amazed by my greatness too?”
Aphrodi just gave a serene smile to his cute niece who looked very nervous before replying
“I’m sure Mika will love your new hissatsus”
Serika turned around quickly before turning beat-red now from anger and shouting
“I never said I wanted to show Mika!! I was talking about…Lola!!!”
Aphrodi cocked an eyebrow and decided to tease her a little more, cocking his head in fake confusion
“Oh, but I don’t think dogs are allowed in the stadium?”
“.......Yes well….I just want Mika to realize her place and that’s beneath me!! Hmph!”
“Alright, alright I got it. Let’s just head inside for today, that’s enough practice. I’ll have Charles get dinner ready for you so take a shower and head back downstairs in an hour okay?”
“Mmm”
Mika gave a signal of acknowledgement before running back into the mansion with a bit of a skip in her step.
Present, Raimon Stadium
Serika gave a look at the raven-haired girl standing in front of her before clenching her first.
She wasn’t going to get left behind…Not if she had anything to say about it! She was going to show that girl her place, right here and now!
[The score is now 1-1 and the match resumes with Seidouzan’s kickoff! What a fierce match this is turning out to be! Both sides are giving it their all but Seidouzan decides to play it safe this time with short and quick passes. Kurosaki makes it within range of the goal but Galahad moves to stop him…Will this be a repeat of last time or will Kurosaki manage to lead Seidouzan to victory as time continues to tick?]
Kurosaki muttered to himself hearing the announcer’s words
“Tch. Like hell it’s going to be a repeat…I didn’t want to use this while it’s not perfect but it’s do or die time now!”
Galahad’s eyes narrowed as he watched the brown-haired striker approach the goal. He took a glance at Mika but saw her out of the corner of his eye running towards the opposite goal so he knew what that meant…
“Ha… That’s just like her…” he muttered before watching the Seidouzan ace leap up and begin spinning from left to right as a stream of flames began to surround him.
This looked like trouble but there was no way he was going to let her down
“FIRE TORNADO”
Watching the blazing ball speed towards him, Galahad just closed his eyes and let the shadows envelop him.
“TOTAL ECLIPSE”
Securing the ball with ease Galahad gave a smirk before quickly scanning to see who was open.
“SERVANT BOY. YOU!! SERVANT BOYYYYYYYY!”
Taken by surprise at the loud female voice he looked in the direction of where it was coming from only to see a girl with light blonde hair, held by a red headband, waving vigorously to pass the ball to her. He knew her…
Serika Afuro.
He had heard rumors about her, as she was famous among the boys at Raimon for being one of the two so-called “goddesses” of the second years along with Mika but from their limited interactions she seemed more like an idiot than an “Angel”, the honorary title her fan club had given her.
He gave a frown as she continued to call him…Could she even play soccer? However, seeing no other options he just closed his eyes and completed the pass.
“What is taking that servant boy so long? She had heard of Galahad Yozora, famous for his good looks among the girls, she knew a few of her followers fawned over him while his fan club called him “Raimon’s prince that came out of a manga”. However, from what she had seen he seemed more like a leech that wouldn’t stop following her rival around… He should be grateful he even has the chance to be a servant to an angel like herself!”
Seeing the ball being passed to her shortly thereafter, her thoughts were cut off however and she quickly refocused before trapping the ball.
After having his shoot stopped, Kurosaki was furious and gave out an order to the defenders
“What can a weak little girl like her do, stop her!”
Hmph.
Serika let out a beautiful giggle before arrogantly leering at the two approaching defenders who were rushing at her. She hadn’t practiced so diligently only to be stopped by two thugs here.
Glowing with a golden light, an awe-inspiring pantheon appeared behind her as she put her hands together in a praying gesture.
“Olympus Harmony!”
Passing the two defenders with graceful ease she let out a shout before kicking the ball towards the black-haired girl.
“Mika! Don’t mess this up!”
Mika trapped the ball diligently and continued to bring the ball up but was quickly surrounded by 3 defenders.
“Did you really think we’d let you score that easily when you’re the only one on the team who can shoot?” yelled out one of the Seidouzan defenders.
“Oh?
Cocking her eyebrow at the provocation Mika lightly opened her mouth to haughtily ask
“And who said I was going to be the one to shoot? ”
Giving a smug smile, Mika then proceeded to do a light back kick to Serika who had already gotten in position to shoot.
Serika gave a triumphant smile in return and yelled back
“I think it’s time to show you what a real shoot looks like” though internally she began to jump up, jubilant that Mika had trusted her enough to follow through with her plan.
Stopping in front of the goalie she asked him
“Do you know how an angel as beautiful as I was able to descend to this Earth?”
“???”
On the sidelines, watching his niece’s theatrics, Aphrodi let out a sigh as he shook his head and tried not to cringe as he remembered his own battle against Endou when they were in Jr.High.
Growing a pair of pure white wings, Serika began to crouch down before stylishly flying up into the air and crossing her arms. As the ball became more and more charged with a bright white light, she kicked it while arrogantly shouting
“GOD KNOWS!!”
[AND IT’S INNNNNNNNNNNN!!!!]
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[ANDDDDD THE END WHISTLE HAS BEEN BLOWN!! And with that folks, the first match of the Block C Holy Road preliminaries has been completed with Raimon winning 2-1 against Seidouzan! Congratulations Raimon and good luck to both teams in their next matches!]
Running up to Mika, Serika lightly coughed before turning her head and saying
“Not bad with the assist, my rival should at least be this capable”
“......”
Not hearing anything Serika turned her head back so she could begin yelling at her baka of a rival but opened her eyes in surprise to see a flat palm waiting for her.
Mika had her usual stoic expression but explained
“Usually in situations like this, it is common practice for players to ‘high-five’ as a form of celebration in order to—”
Clap
Serika interrupted the girl, knowing she was probably in for a lengthy and useless explanation about the history of high-fives in soccer and just gave her a wide smile before breaking out into a cheeky laugh
“Hehe”
She was cut off as she saw the blonde leech begin to approach them as she expected him to so she quickly stood in front of Mika defensively before deciding she needed to drive him away.
“....Not bad for a servant boy. Hmph” before turning her nose at him and dragging Mika away with her to the stands where the Coach and team were waiting.
Galahad made eye contact with Mika as she was being dragged away and just laughed seeing her deadpan expression as Serika began to chat her ear off. He could talk to her later anyway… There was other business to take care of first…
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After the Match, Raimon Changing Room
“Where are you going boss?” asked Matsura.
“Out of this shit hole. Get packing, you're all coming with me.”
“....”
Akuma’s followers just looked at each other before sighing and beginning to empty their lockers.
That day, Akuma Ganeko(FW), Takara Daikuhara (Goalkeeper), Taro Omori (DF), Genkei Matsura (MF), Enmei Ebihara (MF) and Jiro Sugiyama (MF), all resigned from the team…
Current Raimon 1st String Members :
1. Kenji Aihara (MF) - 2nd Year
2. Serika Afuro (MF) - 2nd Year - recently promoted after Seidouzan match
3. Galahad Yozora (DF) - 2nd Year
4. Nariko Yamashiro (DF) - 3rd Year
5. Naoki Takasugi (DF) - 3rd Year
6. Mika Kuroha (FW) - 2nd Year